DELAWARE STATE POLICE CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS MANAGEMENT TEAM

Sergeant Francis L. Fuscellaro II

The Delaware State Police Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team continues to provide services to law enforcement and emergency service personnel for both state and municipal agencies throughout the state Delaware. The team assists officers and other emergency service personnel with minimizing the harmful effects of job related stress, traumatic stress and personal stressors. The team is dedicated to maintaining strict confidentiality and to respect the thoughts and feelings of the individuals involved.

In 2010, the Delaware State Police CISM team was led by Sgt Francis L Fuscellaro II who took the team over from Capt. Ronald Hagan. The team assistant is Mr. John Shoemaker, a supervisor with Kent County Communications. The team presently consists of fourteen sworn and four civilian members who have received training endorsed by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. In 2010, Ed Justiniano retired from the State Police but continues to remain active with the CISM Team as a civilian. In the fall of 2010, Cpl/3 Bret McAfee and Cpl. Donna Saucier were selected as new members.

During the past year, the CISM team assisted non-sworn members of law enforcement and agencies outside of the State of Delaware for the first time by providing CISM services to members of the Attorney General’s Office in response to the Earl Bradley Investigation. The team also provided CISM services to members of the Wicomico County Sheriffs Department in Maryland reference the kidnapping and murder of 11 year old, Sarah H. Foxwell.

The year 2010 was a busy year for the Delaware State Police CISM team with forty-six incidents/responses, which included police shootings, military re-integration, fatal accidents, and other traumatic events for law enforcement and emergency service personnel. The team responded to those incidents in an effort to provide support to the involved officers, co-workers and in some instances family members. The most significant response of 2010 was in providing support for the investigators and members of the Attorney General’s office, who were involved with the Earl Bradley Investigation. The CISM team provided numerous peer support contacts, defusings and debriefings over a period of several months. Members of the team attended a training program regarding Child Exploitation Investigations instructed by Dr. Gregg Dwyer from the School of Medicine at the University of South Carolina.

The CISM team continues to work closely with Dr. Ellen Marshall and other police organizations for joint training opportunities. Dr. Marshall serves as a full time Criminal Justice professor at Delaware Technical and Community College in Georgetown, Delaware and volunteers her time as the team’s Mental Health Coordinator. She has conducted approximately fifty one-on-one CISM sessions (approximately 130 hours of counseling services), making the team’s total number of incidents/responses just under one hundred responses.
 

 - Information obtained from 2010 DSP Annual Report -